Asking Governors Hard Questions …My Encounter with Governor Chinwoke Mbadinuju of Anambra State in 2002 – Adegbenro Adebanjo

It was at the height of the political crisis rocking Anambra State in 2001 -2002. At the centre of it was Governor Chinwoke Mbadinuju. He wanted a second term and those who helped him to power would have none of that .

The war was bitter. Anambra became a battle ground of sort. And in the middle of it all the Chairman of the Onitsha Branch of the Nigeria Bar Association, Barnabas Igwe and his pregnant wife , also a lawyer were hacked to death.
And because the man had criticised the Mbadinuju administration some days earlier the talk in town was that the henchmen of the Governor were responsible for the dastardly act.

At an editorial meeting , it was decided that the roiling crisis in the state was big enough to Grace the cover of TELL Magazine. And as the Editor , politics I led the team to Akwa the Anambra State capital.
The Governor’s opponents were clear about who killed the lawyers. When I interviewed them , they blamed the Governor and insisted that he was ready to kill more to achieve his second term ambition.
I made contact with the Governor’s media team and an interview session was scheduled.
I started with the soft questions and in the middle of it I threw what the Governor’s media adviser later described as a Bombshell:

TELL : Your Excellency, the perception and belief is that you took out the Igwes because you saw him as a critic who would work against your bid for a second term. Some said your Bakassi boys did the job on your behalf.

After the question only the humming of the air-conditioning system could be heard. Some of the governor’s men exchanged worrying glances and threw some hard stare in my direction. They feared the worst.
And the Governor disappointed them. He did not lose his temper .

Mbadinuju stood up, took a copy of the Bible and restated his innocence before God and men. He said he believed that he was against powerful forces who were ready to do anything to discredit him in order to deny him another term in office. He said he had never and would never shed any blood .

After the interview some of the governor’s handlers upbraided me for asking a question given to me by the opposition.
I told them I only did my job.

Postscript : The duty of the journalist is to ask probing questions that would unearth hidden facts. The interviewee has the right to answer truthfully or falsely or decline to answer.

However under no circumstances should the interviewee used uncouth language and threaten the interviewer .

• Adegbenro Adebanjo
  Former Head of Newsroom/Associate Editor
  TELL Magazine